Teva Pharmaceutical Industries has appointed Dr. Yitzhak Peterburg as interim president and chief executive officer (CEO), effective immediately, following a mutual agreement between Teva’s board and Erez Vigodman that Mr. Vigodman is stepping down as president and CEO. Mr. Vigodman’s service on the Teva board of directors has also ended.

Dr. Peterburg has served as chairman of the Teva board of directors since January 2015 but has stepped down from that role in order to serve as interim CEO, in accordance with the Israeli Companies Law. Teva’s board of directors is undertaking a search to identify a permanent CEO.

Prior to rejoining Teva’s board of directors in 2012, Dr. Peterburg led Teva’s research and development as Teva’s group vice president, Global Branded Products, from October 2010 to October 2011 after serving on Teva’s board of directors from 2009 to July 2010. Previously, he served as president and CEO of Cellcom Israel, a telecommunications company, from 2003 to 2005; director general of Clalit Health Services, a healthcare provider in Israel, from 1997 to 2002; and CEO of Soroka University Medical Center, Beer-Sheva, from 1995 to 1997. Dr. Peterburg currently serves as a director on the board of Rosetta Genomics and is also the chairman of Regenera Pharma, a Phase III clinical-stage pharmaceutical startup company.

In addition to Dr. Peterburg’s appointment, the Teva board has elected Dr. Sol J. Barer, a member of the board since January 2015, as the new chairman of the Teva board of directors. Dr. Barer was a founder of the biotechnology group at Celanese, later spun off as Celgene, where he served in top leadership roles from 1987 to 2011, including as chairman and CEO from 2007 to 2010. Previously Dr. Barer was appointed president in 1993 and chief operating officer in 1994 before assuming the CEO position.

Dr. Barer serves as chairman of the board of the public companies Edge Therapeutics, InspireMD and Aevi Genomic Medicine, and of the board of the private pain-therapeutic company Centrexion. He is lead director of the biotechnology company, ContraFect, and is on the board of directors of the public company Amicus Therapeutics. He is a venture advisor to the Israel Biotechnology Fund as well as an advisor to biopharma companies.

Source: Teva Pharmaceutical Industries